After going through the arbitration process, Jonathan Bernier and the Maple Leafs brain trust finally found common ground and an agreement was made before the arbitrators ruling was imposed. The Toronto net minder will be between the pipes for two more seasons, unless he is traded of course.
The two-year, 4.15 million dollar per season contract gives the Leafs more time to see what they have in Bernier, and of course Jonathan will have more time to prove whether he deserves to be paid as a true number one goalie going forward. It is fortunate that the two parties were able to strike a deal before the arbitrator made a decision for them; as I feel a one-year deal wouldn’t have been ideal for Toronto as Bernier would be a UFA by seasons end. Jonathan Bernier will be the 24th highest cap hit among all goalies in the NHL this upcoming season, which I believe is par for the course.
Some may argue that the deal favors Bernier in the long run and the Leafs in the short run. Which does have hold some merit as Bernier could have two solid seasons and cash in on a high paying long term deal after his two year contract is up. The reality is; that’s a win for the Leafs as well. If it takes two seasons to find out if your potential number one goalie, is just that; then it’s worth paying the extra money down the road knowing you have a sure thing. Toronto throwing out a long term contract at Bernier at this point would be meaningless unless they wanted to take a big risk with Bernier and cross their fingers he panned out. Goalies are funny like that, other than a handful; there is a lot of up and down from season to season.
Bernier now has 175 NHL games played, but stunk last season as the Leafs dropped into the gutter. In Toronto in his first year as a starter Jonathan Bernier put up a 26-19-7 record with a .923 save percentage which was an excellent first year. By the time last season was complete; Bernier had a 21-28-7 record with only a .912 save percent. Obviously this was not all his fault, but certainly some mental lapses that didn’t help his stats or the Leafs.
Whatever way you want to look at the situation, the bottom line is the Leafs will have quality goaltending for the next two seasons at an affordable price. The puck is now in Bernier’s crease, and it’s up to him to kick it out and earn the number one spot now, and in the future.
Nylander now has some quality company at that atop the Leafs prospect pool. The Marlies should be an exciting team to watch this year as future Maple Leafs will be working hard at their game to impress Shanahan and his management staff. Unfortunately Marner will most likely be going back to the OHL for one last season as he is too young to join the Toronto Marlies. This is something that I feel should be changed in years to come as prospects like Marner who won’t progress as much dominating in the OHL as he would playing in the AHL with potential future line mates.
Nylander will have other quality prospects like Kapanen, Leipsic, Brown, Leivo, Verhaeghe and Johnson to play with on the Marlies and hopefully increase his chemistry and in turn production.
The best case scenario for William Nylander would be to have an outstanding AHL season for the Marlies and possibly get called up to the big show in Toronto once the Leafs unload a number of their players signed with one-year deals. William Nylander looks to increase his role on the Marlies this season and plans to play centre. “He wants to play there,” said Kyle Dubas. “It’s going to be up to him to show he can do it. He’s going to come to training camp and start by playing centre. It’s going to be up to him to see where he can take it.” Of course Dubas and the Leafs staff are thrilled with his attitude going into this upcoming season after making the transition to the North American ice. Nylander finished the season with four goals and five assists in his last five games to finish the season with 32 points in 37 games.
Don’t expect him to make the jump to the NHL this season unless it’s towards the end of the year. But what you can expect is Nylander to take on more of a leadership role in the A and produce at a high enough pace so that Leafs management have no choice but to start him on the 2016/ 17 opening roster.
Toronto has a lot of prospects in the system with a high level of skill and a smaller frame in size. Except the Leafs draft pick from 2013, Frederik Gauthier. He is a tower of power in the circle and his six-foot-four, 215 pound frame has improved each season. Gauthier’s skating is much improved and he still works ferociously on his defensive side of the game making him a very different prospect than Nylander, Marner, Brown and so on. It should be noted that a wide variety of skills makeup an NHL player, but more so a team who has success. This is exactly where Gautheir comes into play. He will be used in many scenarios down the road where a faceoff is needed to be won, or a big body who you can rely on to get the job done on both ends of the ice. Frederik is a player who will win battles and get the puck on the stick of his teammates where the damage can be done. A quality third line center is very useful in today’s game; someone who has a good stick, someone the coach and players can rely on to get the job done.
Dubas was quoted, “We don’t want to just have him pigeonholed as just being a defensive centre. We want him to grow as a player. We want him to expand offensively and we want him to be more assertive defensively.”
Having a big bodied, strong two way center in the Leafs future is nothing but promising. If Nylander, Kadri, Marner and whoever else the Leafs have in the top six chip in the offense expected of them, a player like Gauthier will be very useful when holding a lead, killing a penalty or simply putting out an effective shutdown line to get through the tough minutes of a game. After watching the Leafs blow that game seven lead against Boston, I think we can all appreciate what Frederik Gauthier may bring to the table in Toronto. Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get a chance with the big club as early as the 2016/17 season.
How about Mitchell Marner.
Could it be that Marner is redefining the definition of dynamic? The number of highlight reel plays he was part of in the 4-1 victory over Russia on Monday was astonishing. He was phenomenal during Canada’s Junior Evaluation Camp, a legit game changer. If you haven’t had a chance to catch Marner play on the television or in real life, just wait until you see this kid shine. The straight up skill level of Marner is off the charts and what better to have than a player who wanted more than anything to be drafted by Toronto. He is surely going to be a gem in years to come, and is already proving the Leafs management to be right on target with them selecting him at fourth overall.
Marner is the master of puck control. That is a big part of his game in the offensive zone and he showed it as he had a beautiful set-up play where he acted like a decoy dishing the puck off to the open man in the slot (Joe Hicketts).
"That's my game is controlling the puck, and that's what I wanted to do coming in here," Marner said. "I felt my teammates were giving it to me. We had such good chemistry out on the ice that we were confusing them. I think that's why we had so much success."
Mitch was playing in all scenarios versus Russia, as he played keep-away with the Russian players killing valuable time on the clock. Possession is becoming more and more eye opening with NHL players these days, as you know; if you don’t have the puck, you can’t score. Datsyuk and the Red Wings have mastered this part of their game over the years, and hopefully this is something that Babcock will be able to grind into his players in Toronto.
It may be a couple years away before the Leafs are a competitive team in terms of being in the playoff picture. Players like Marner and Nylander make it much easier to wait as it feels there are some A-grade prospects in the system…finally.
Be sure to keep an eye on the Leafs rookie tournament which is held in London, Ontario. The tournament will run from September 11-13.
Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your week.
Blogger •Atlantic Division Writer • 
Join the Discussion:
»